News Briefs

Less than one percent of crimes are punished in Mexico, according to a new study that highlights the grave structural and institutional weaknesses that have allowed organized crime to flourish in the country.

According to the new Mexico Global Impunity Index (pdf) published by the Center for Impunity and Justice Studies (CESIJ) at Universidad de Las Américas, only 4.46 percent of crimes recorded in Mexico result in convictions.

However, the report adds, only around seven percent of crimes are actually reported, which when taken into account means that over 99 percent of crimes committed in Mexico go unpunished. The study found the most common reasons for not reporting crimes were the amount of time it takes and a lack of faith in the authorities.

The report also ranked other countries around the globe by assigning impunity scores based on various factors, from crime reporting rates to the capacities of security and justice institutions. Among the countries included in the report, Mexico ranked as the second worst for impunity after the Philippines and the worst in the Americas, with only Colombia coming close to Mexico's score.

The CESIJ blamed a combination of political failures and meddling, weak, underfunded and corrupt institutions as well as the presence of organized crime for Mexico's impunity woes.

InSight Crime Analysis

The CESIJ report highlights perhaps the biggest obstacle to improving security in Mexico -- shocking levels of impunity. The reasons for this are varied and deep rooted, but can be traced back to state institutions that are overwhelmed and underfunded and often swing between corruption and incompetence.

Such weaknesses in security institutions mean many people consider reporting crimes to be a waste of time or even risky due to the possibility of reprisals. However, this is just the beginning of Mexico's impunity problems, which continue with a justice system that also lacks the capacity to properly investigate and prosecute crimes, meaning even those that are arrested will often not be convicted.

The CESIJ report includes numerous recommendations for lowering impunity levels in Mexico, among them professionalizing institutions, improving transparency and inter-institution cooperation, and building truly politically independent justice institutions. While these are all salient points, improving Mexico's judicial and security systems will also require a budget, capacity and political will that Mexico has so far shown little sign of possessing.

We also encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, provided that it is attributed to InSight Crime in the byline, with a link to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Investigations

On May 27, 1964 up to one thousand Colombian soldiers, backed by fighter planes and helicopters, launched an assault against less than fifty guerrillas in the tiny community of Marquetalia. The aim of the operation was to stamp out once and for all the communist threat in...

In October 2012, the US Treasury Department designated the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) as a transnational criminal organization (TCO). While this assertion seems unfounded, there is one case that illustrates just why the US government is worried about the future.

The United States -- which through its antinarcotics, judicial and police attaches was very familiar with the routes used for smuggling, and especially those used for people trafficking and understood that those traffickers are often one and the same -- greeted the new government of Elias Antonio...

The FARC have always had a love-hate relationship with drugs. They love the money it brings, funds which have allowed them to survive and even threaten to topple the state at the end of the 1990s. They hate the corruption and stigma narcotics have also brought to...

In August 2002, the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) greeted Colombia's new president with a mortar attack that killed 14 people during his inauguration. The attack was intended as a warning to the fiercely anti-FARC newcomer. But it became the opening salvo of...

If we are to believe the Colombian government, the question is not if, but rather when, an end to 50 years of civil conflict will be reached. Yet the promise of President Juan Manuel Santos that peace can be achieved before the end of 2014 is simply...

When considering the possibilities that the FARC may break apart, the Ivan Rios Bloc is a helpful case study because it is perhaps the weakest of the FARC's divisions in terms of command and control, and therefore runs the highest risk of fragmentation and criminalization.

Ricardo Mauricio Menesses Orellana liked horses, and the Pasaquina rodeo was a great opportunity to enjoy a party. He was joined at the event -- which was taking place in the heart of territory controlled by El Salvador's most powerful drug transport group, the Perrones -- by the...